Training while on Smolov

Wanted to hear how squatting on smolov effected their training for other body parts?

e.g. I heard you should not deadlift while running smolov for squats but what about your chest or upper back routine? do those change?

I have never done Smolov. This is coming from three friends that have.

This is a squat program. Why are you concerned with, well, anything else?

No, you do not deadlift. Get the program before doing it.

All three did bench, pull ups and arm/shoulder work. Nothing for lower back. Same day or off days, up to you. Don’t ask reps and set. That is up to you.

This is a brutal program with high dividends. Is your squat enough to do it?

I’ve done 2 full smolov cycles and a half smolov cycle on back squats in the last 18 months and my squat rocketed from 140kg in March 2013 to a 210kg max in July 2014. Although with traditional smolov you are meant to solely squat 4 days a week, I modified it and squatted every other training session. This meant I would train squat/bench/squat/general back work/squat/press and repeat.
Obviously days off we’re necessary, but all in all this would only be around an 8/9 day training cycle which meant that it wasn’t far off what id do.

Is actually say that personally I found it more beneficial because I could take more days off between squatting which allowed for more recovery, but it also kept my interest gauged as I was still maintaining everything else.
That said, I’m not sure on your starting squat max. At 140kg I was basically a novice/intermediate at 85kg, nothing spectacular at all so even though I had modified my program slightly I still got insane benefits from squatting 3x per week. Obviously if you already squat heavy training 5/6 days a week with smolov and other lifts will probably be too taxing on your CNS and a recipe for no gains, but I’m sure you’re aware

When I did smolovs I put 85lbs on my squat. I deadlifted once during the switching phase and added 15lbs to my deadlift max having never trained it for the first 6 weeks of smolovs. I benched every Tuesday with the 5/3/1 rep scheme and made the standard 5/3/1 gains. Smolovs is a great routine. It is brutal so be prepared mentally and physically, follow it fairly strictly, you don’t need to add much if anything to it.

When you finish it, be careful switching back into a regular routine. I went directly from smolovs back to my old 5/3/1 routine with the boring but big/hill sprints and within about a month i’d pulled my hamstring, after healing from that strained a hip flexor. Ease back into the new routine and make sure to take good care of yourself. I realize that Smolov’s is really meant just for your squat but I do believe it was the most effective routine I’ve ever followed. Hard work but good results.

I started it on 1/1/13, planning to run it again for a second time this winter.

[quote]JFG wrote:
This is a squat program. Why are you concerned with, well, anything else?
[/quote]

To know how people/if people still train other body parts and to what intensity (lower or maintain) as to not negatively effect the program too much. (e.g. upper back training may, due to soreness, reduce back tightness and reduce squat performance.)

I know this may vary from person to person (training maturity, etc…) but I wanted to get a general idea of how people approached other body parts while on the program

[quote]JFG wrote:
This is a brutal program with high dividends. Is your squat enough to do it?[/quote]

What do you mean if my squat is enough to do it? do you mean if my max is high enough otherwise its not worth doing this program? (my every day max is around 335 I assume).

[quote]RobbieSB wrote:
Although with traditional smolov you are meant to solely squat 4 days a week, I modified it and squatted every other training session. This meant I would train squat/bench/squat/general back work/squat/press and repeat.
Obviously days off we’re necessary, but all in all this would only be around an 8/9 day training cycle which meant that it wasn’t far off what id do.
[/quote]

Thanks for the reply! That sounds like something I intend to do once I decide to start the program.

Since I did 531 before I tried smolov, my main priorities were to keep my strength on OHP and Bench while improving my squat. I did bench after squats on the first workout of the week and OHP after squats on the third workout. Starting with around 50% of my max, I ramp up in 3s till I reach a heavy triple. Each set was supersetted with band pull aparts or chinups. Didn’t do any deadlift variation or anything that really tax the lower back. Go easy on the exercises or maybe consider just doing them every other week. If you’re doing the base meso, you probably won’t lose much if any muscle and strength in a few weeks. Like many people said, it’s a squat peaking program, so focus your everything on trying to improve your squat.

Check out other people’s experiences here: